rewarding the thieves

Suppose you walked up to me on the street, robbed me of $100 and then were punished with a $8.50 fine.

Could I be forgiven for asking, "How the hell does that compute?!"

The thief is not only excused, but also rewarded.

Today, a decision-making process will begin in court as to an $8.5 billion settlement offered by Bank of America to mortgage-securities-holders bilked of $100 billion or more according to some petitioners. If the allegation is true, what happened to the other $91.5 billion?

Outrage is delicious, of course, but what wonders me is how those capable of such adroit theft (and their political co-conspirators) can imagine that the guns of revolution will not -- and should not -- be aimed at them when the time comes.

Is it really so outlandish to think that on July 17, 1918, the Bolsheviks executed the ruling Romanov family -- the Czar, his wife and children -- and tossed the remains down a well? Isn't barbarism and atrocity more often than not founded in barbarism and atrocity?